Date posted: 08/09/2006*

Imagine a radar antenna that spans the length of a football field, yet weighs less than the 22 players in action on it.

That’s what Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) is developing under an $8 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The idea is to bond an active electronically scanned array (AESA) antenna — the largest X-band antenna ever built — to the hull of an unmanned airship 150 to 300 meters (164 to 328 yards) in length. Easy, you say?

According to Michael Wechsberg, director of the SAS Advanced Concepts and Technology group, creating an inordinately sensitive and lightweight sensor that can be integrated into the structure of an airship is the mission.

The airship, remaining essentially motionless, could hover for long periods above the jet stream at altitudes of 65,000 to 70,000 feet, with the antenna transmitting on UHF and X-band. “That would let us see targets from a platform that would be difficult to find, let alone to knock down,” said Wechsberg.

SAS is a leader in AESA technology, which uses no moving parts to scan at nearly the speed of light.

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